What’s with the #throwback??

For quite some time now, I see that a lot of people in my feed on facebook have taken to the idea of ‘#throwback’. In fact, Facebook has also picked up the trend and has enabled users to relive memories of ‘This day that year’.

We all have definitely acknowledged the fact that facebook lets us express our emotions without the awkwardness of having to be present physically to convey them. Yet, I find it increasingly annoying when I see my feed filled with #throwback posts. I am left wondering about the relevance of these posts. I find it puzzling when I see photos of people taken less than a year ago, reappearing on facebook, accompanied with all possible tags that the person could think of- #psenti#throwback#missingyou#besties#nostalgic. On most occasions, my first reaction is ‘ Why don’t you just pick up your phone and give a call to the person you are referring to/ missing so much?‘. In fact, I am pretty sure that the people in question are all the time talking to each other over messenger or WhatsApp. Then why on earth do they have to let the world know how much 50 different people mean to them on 50 different days? It’s not as though we are all 60 years old and are reliving memories of our childhood.

There may be several possible motivations for people to indulge in this kind of nostalgia. The first one, though it seems highly unlikely to me, is that there is an overwhelmingly emotional incident associated with the event/photo. The users simply cannot continue to other pursuits without pouring it out to their facebook audience. Second, we as facebook users demand such posts to compensate the lack of topics for our idle conversations. In which case, such statuses are totally justified on the grounds of supply being moderated by demand. Third, the user is compelled to increase his/her social activity quotient (measured in my opinion by the ‘likes’ on a post/photo) or to show-off that he/she is a social celebrity on facebook.

As a general rant, we should all realize that while facebook is a really good thing, there is an added responsibility on every one of us to curtail the amount of time spent on it. While I understand that social networking is tied to arguments like ‘Freedom of Speech and Action’ blah-blah, our choices are accountable only to the conscience. Therefore, if we withdraw ourselves to the self-introspection mode and realize that it is the second and/or the third reason mentioned above that motivates us to use Facebook, then we really ought to re-think our priorities in life. It may not do good to our budding dreams and aspirations to spend our time on useless pursuits.

I am really curious to know if there are people who would agree with me on this. Otherwise, I may have to digest the accusation of being emotionless that people throw at me all the time.

By the way, if you thought that I was jobless when I wrote this, I would say you are justified in your opinion!!! 😉

Shruthi- wonderful article. In fact I voice the same concern.I should confess that five years ago, when I entered this social network, I could not resist the temptation of curiously seeing how many likes I received for my DP. (very child-like isn’t it). But that was the time I decided to quit my job and hence sought refuge in it. Rest assured, I now only open to see whether I am missing my friends’ birthdays and thereby ensure that I am in touch with them. I am disheartened to see many youngsters, include school going children spending hours on social networks which could otherwise be spent productively.As a teacher, I only hope students are more sensitive and responsible and take social networks as a starter or a dessert and not as a main course!